The 2025 Mountain West football season is underway already. Saturday, August 23 saw week zero matchups that featured three different MW teams in action. UNLV barely slid past Idaho State, Fresno State got handed a whoopin by Kansas, and the Hawai’i Rainbows pulled off the victory over Stanford.
Some looked good in a win, some looked bad in a loss, and maybe some even looked bad in a win—if that’s possible. No matter how you think each team looked out on the field, here we take a view at how they looked in their new uniforms for 2025.
Here is Sons of Montezuma’s rankings of the Best Mountain West football uniforms from worst to first.
12. Utah State Aggies
Starting first at the bottom spot is without a doubt, hands down the Utah State Aggies. In what might be the most dull, uninspiring, generic look in all the Mountain West, Utah State boasts a look that fits their base—Way too vanilla.
The Aggies have never really had a great look. With such a common college sports mascot name like the Aggies, it doesn’t really help in visionary terms to identify icons that can evoke style, flair, or greatness. The most well known Aggies in college football are the Aggies from the SEC’s Texas A&M, and their uniforms are perhaps even more plain than Utah State’s. It just helps they have decades upon decades of winning culture under their football crazed state of Texas.
For a time there the school implemented some bull or oxen iconography into their design—that was decent. But these days it doesn’t appear any of that is happening.
Now don’t get me wrong, Utah State puts forth a clean, visually sound creation to their branding. They know what they want to achieve and they do it very well. It’s just unbelievably dull.
11. UNLV Rebels
Now usually when a team starts winning their look catches on and people begin to fool themselves into believing the uniforms are great. UNLV has been good at football for about 15 minutes, so I’m not holding my breath that those uniforms t hey trot out in will achieve that distinction.
Las Vegas is a showmanship city. Some call it the sports entertainment capital of the world now with it’s professional teams establishing themselves in both forms of new franchises like the Aces and Knights—alongside classic ones like Raiders and Athletics. But when it comes to UNLV they just don’t fit on that same level. Their helmets are dull. Their jersey’s are basic. They don’t capture the excitement or energy of what Las Vegas represents one bit.
Maybe the culprit in all of this is the retiring of Hey Reb, the school’s longtime mascot and iconic representation. But give me a break, you’ve centered your University’s representation to mimic that of the Southern Rebel army from the Confederacy in the US Civil War. There’s no running from that Rebels. (See what I did there)
To be fair, I don’t recall the Rebel character being used much in their previous years uniform/helmet looks to begin with and the program has tried to step up their game with multi-colored combinations to fit in with all the other cool teams around the country. But just because you have different colors of poop, it doesn’t make you cool—it actually makes you look sick. And that is just what UNLV’s whole branding does to me.
10. Nevada Wolf Pack
Now Nevada Reno is an interesting one. They are the opposite of the UNLV ‘southern’ Rebels—so their northern counterparts flip the color scheme to Navy Blue & Grey/Silver worn by the Union in the US Civil War. They do a fairly decent job in layout of their colors and to their credit they have built the biggest little city traditional look to their uniform kits.
You generally know what you’re getting when it comes to the Wolf Pack’s uniforms each year and that has built a pretty nice culture among their base around the Sierra Nevada’s. But just because you’ve built tradition doesn’t mean it’s really all that great.
UNR has had iconic moments in their past to draw back on that makes their look tolerable, but with a name like the Wolf Pack their execution of representing what should be a cool name and branding just underwhelms so much. The big clunky jersey letters are legible and all but just exactly that—big & clunky.
For a minute there when the Raiders first came to the state of Nevada, you could vaguely see UNR mimic the use of Silver in their uniforms to look very similar to the Black & Silver. But in the end, it’s just not very representative of a high quality design or arrangement—especially in the fine details of the jerseys and logo placements.
The PACK script on a helmet was welcomed at first to me, but since then I’ve really come to despise any sort of cursive letters on a football helmet. Leave that style to baseball.
9. New Mexico Lobos
New Mexico is confusing. I want to appreciate the respect, creativity, and daring attempts they have taken when designing their football uniforms & helmets. Just too bad their colors are just so damn ugly.
For this season it appears the Lobos are being daring by adding a ton of the turquoise they show off as their Native American heritage and mixed into their traditional cherry & silver standards. Yikes.
I’ve never been a fan of their Lobo/Muskrat looking logo—but i do appreciate their stylings especially in the numbers and fonts. It just like a very Roswell/UFO/Rocket Ship aesthetic and I appreciate that consideration, even if it’s only in my head.
By adding in the Turquoise and even the state flag native symbols to their alternate State Flag versions, I appreciate them attempting to represent their people and put those meaningful connections into a consistent well-balanced presentation. They really are trying to do something very well composed.
But it’s just too much and too all over the place for my liking. When designing it’s important to remember you cannot be all things to all people. At least not in one uniform. All the best to the Lobos in their uniforms for 2025, but while solid just misses the mark a bit.
8. San Jose State
Now we step into the next level of uniforms. San Jose State is actually doing a pretty solid job in terms of their branding and even social media presence looks. They know what their colors, logos, mascot, and name is. They even added the accent mark over the José, several years ago to make sure you know it too.
Their helmet has been consistent over the last few years and really feels like they’ve settled in on their look, whereas over the years before their design always felt lost to me. With a very clean & bold set of colorways, San José is screaming out THIS IS SPARTA!
Now I’m usually not huge fans of Under Armour designed uniforms. Usually they are a bit too plain or a bit too crazy. I think with the Spartans they’ve found a simple sweet spot. With Spartans as a name and their logo choice, you don’t want to over think it too much and they haven’t.
The color combos are reminiscent of the LA Chargers branding, which isn’t a bad thing at all. And though these uniforms are not some that I personally would ever want to wear, there just isn’t much bad things to say about them.
7. Fresno State
Fresno State comes in next with their traditional red & white, and that’s exactly where they need to stay. The Bulldogs have created a very nice football culture there in the Central California Valley. Their branding and attitude fits so well with their colors, scheme and execution of their uniforms.
When they stray away from that is when they lose me. All reds, red & white combos is where they need to be. None of this black & red trying to put on a coat of coolness, none of this chrome helmet junk, or the navy blue helmets. Get that stuff out of here guys. The Red Wave needs to be the Red Wave.
The Fresno endzones are red & white checkerboard painted and that needs to always tie in with their uniforms. When it does, you’ve got yourself a very next level college football brand. When they stray away from that, things just get very sketchy looking. But I guess that fits Fresno State. Oh well, carry on.
The Bulldog logo on the helmet should always be. The block numbers are fantastic. The pride of the Valley big green ‘V’ is a terrific touch anywhere on the uniform they decide to place it. But for the love of God, get rid of the Bulldogs script. Just leave it alone guys.
Not much else to say about the team from up north, but they encapsulate the look very well—even though I can’t stand them.
6. Colorado State
Taking things up a notch are the Colorado State Rams. This one gives me pause. I’ve debated marking the Rams higher, then I step away from this article, only to come back and move them up again on the rankings list. The Rams do a fantastic job of representing this legendary uniform that has been a staple in all levels of football.
That’s right CSU isn’t the first school to represent a Ram on their helmet and they won’t be the last. The LA Rams own it flat out, as being the NFL franchise to make it legendary, but kudos to CSU for making it all their own in the same regard. That’s not something easy to do. I mean maybe the only other collegiate teams I can see doing a similar job would be the Iowa Hawkeyes and their blatantly similar uniform look to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Boise State Broncos like the Denver Broncos.
Colorado State has long held their green to be mean, and the gold to counter that darkness, comes out so very rich, bold and luxurious. The clean stripes they’ve added on the legs and shoulders are maybe a bit dull, but let’s be honest they are not the star of the show anyways.
Yes the Rams have two alternates, with their orange and green “Old Aggie” version (yuck, but somehow okay) and their State of Colorado version (should never be a thing). Neither of these really do it for me, but I can see how changing things up can help a bit. The Rams base green & gold uniforms are classy, but for too long can get boring at times.
Nevertheless, cheers to Colorado State for getting the job done and just always being a consistent good look in the Mountain West.
5. Wyoming
I used to hate Wyoming’s look. Totally hated it. The brown and yellow made me sick. The Cowboy on the helmet was so weird. The style of writing of Wyoming was too hokey. And then, I grew up.
Wyoming will never be what you want them to be. They are outliers to college football and to the rest of the Nation. And that’s just fine with them. The tradition of the Cowboys really shows through with their unique, one of a kind threads that I have come to really appreciate.
The white on white look above is just classy, tough, and really embodies a traditional look I feel very nostalgic for when it comes to uniforms. The yellow jersey alternates still don’t sit 100% right with me, but it’s a small price to pay for representing that region of the country with something so very different than anything else around the country.
Again this is a case like San Jose State, that putting these kits on may not be my top choice to wear. But when you see them more and more—especially as the days the modern jersey styles & details improve in the manufacturing industry—the more they simply grow on you.
4. Hawai’i
Hawai’i arguably has one of the best throwback uniforms, that many at the time did not appreciate for a football team. I mean c’mon, a rainbow on a jersey was kind of funny growing up watching on TV. Now I look back and those Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors threads were so–so fire!
Well can you believe the latest Hawai’i uniforms are considered their new throwbacks now? Sort of. The June Jones era teams that just attacked offensively wore these green & black tribal uniforms and boy did they reinvent the brand on the national stage.
With the return of Timmy Chang, the Rainbows are back and so are the finer details of their iconic look. Nike is jumped on their design and turned back the clock a bit. Simple, clean, but so important paying homage to the culture and the history of a once great time in their program.
The silhouette of the islands on one side of the helmet is gorgeous. Having the H logo on the other side to give the helmet some contrast is perfection. Only time will tell if Nike actually puts their design spin to their look in the near future, but for now these iconic threads are and will always represent the Polynesian pride the best that I’ve ever seen.
3. Boise State
Boise State is as Boise State does. They win and so they look good. They have always strived to improve their look and branding and I for one appreciate that. The blue on the blue is a vibe, not always the most pleasurable to watch on television. Actually it’s horrendous to watch on television. It makes my eyes hurt and annoys me so much.
But isolated the uniforms and helmets are definitely fire. If possible to say, they are both underrated and overrated somehow. The multiple color ways are a strong part of the team’s branding. There are some basic elements to them like the name Broncos running down the leg, or the two stripes on the shoulders—but those don’t nearly outweigh the coolness factor of the them as a whole.
The Bronco on the helmet is terrific. The fonts and numbers are sleek and modern. Just ditch the script Broncos helmet and bring back the vintage Boise State logo there instead.
Leave it to Boise State to keep pushing the envelope in the future with possible new designs, no doubt. Whatever they will be, they’ll likely be near the top of this list again.
2. San Diego State
Now obviously I am biased here. San Diego State ever since moving to the ‘Piedra Del Sol’ uniforms have ranked top of this list without a doubt. The black & red combination has always been the best, most intimidating look. The helmet with the design on it is easily top 5 in all college football.
Over the years they’ve made slight adjustments to the look with details on the helmet to enhance it’s visibility. They’ve even tried to add in the SD logo in other areas along the way, knowing the quick & easy recognition of the brand has taken a back seat to the long play traditional value of keeping the ancient cultural artwork as it’s main focus on the uniform.
This year SDSU added a red collar and took away the script SAN DIEGO STATE from across the chest. While it looks like it may be missing something for now, again they are choosing to play the long game that over time the look will become even more iconic to college sports fans from all over.
I can’t argue the decisions or much of anything on the design. But the only reason why this is not #1 is because there is still so much more room for creativity and increasing the amount of alternates for such an amazingly unique brand name. The Aztecs culture opens the door for so many visually stunning and creative ideas that SDSU while knocking this one look out of the park, has dropped the ball on achieving greater territory in the uniform game.
At this point, Azteca culturally-inspired threads aside—SDSU football has traditional looks that should be harkened back to for alternate looks every homecoming game or so. There is truly so much Aztec-gold still there to dig for. If SDSU truly digs deeper, they could truly uncover for themselves the greatest uniform combinations the football world has ever seen.
1. Air Force
The Air Force Academy, what can you say. The helmet is simply radical. It’s heavy metal. It’s USA. It’s a linebacker screaming around the edge of a blitz and attacking at full velocity. It’s jet planes and missiles. It’s the old glory waving in the sky and it’s #1 on our list.
The simple traditional look of the Air Force Falcons are unmistakable and always inspiring to watch. Ask me twenty years ago and no way the Falcons are this high on the list. Again, thanks in part to the modernization of the jersey and helmet manufacturing industry, their look has improved drastically in their fit and asthetic.
If the traditional look wasn’t cutting for you even with a new tailored look, all you have to do is see some of the alternates the Academy has put forth for this season. Feel free to cycle between the different angles of the military grade looks of their combos. It will make you want to enlist right now just to wear those bad boys.
The pride that comes on with these uniforms are so much deeper than just for sport. No other Mountain West team can compare when it comes to what these mean for their players and fanbase. It also helps that they just look that much better than the others on top of that.
And there you have it. How’d we do? How would you rank this list if up to you? Let us know in the comments and let’s get this football season going!
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2 Responses
Can’t disagree with any of this ranking – well done. I like the slight, but good changes SDSU made to their uniform for this year.
lol Whales Vagina State propaganda